


Passive Sacrifice

by theneonpineapple



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Gen, John Critical, John Winchester's A+ Parenting, POV John Winchester
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-26
Updated: 2018-08-26
Packaged: 2019-07-02 16:46:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 543
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15800580
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theneonpineapple/pseuds/theneonpineapple
Summary: n., chess term; the sacrifice of a piece, by moving a different piece, leaving the sacrificed piece under attack // John gets a call in late October.





	Passive Sacrifice

**Author's Note:**

> If you like John you probably won't like me. John stans in comments will be deleted. 
> 
> -
> 
> "There ain't nobody can track a demon like this." / "Our dad could." - S02E02, "Everybody Loves A Clown"

"Winchester," John answered the call.

"This is - um, this is Dr. Wheeland from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration?"

"From Silver Spring. I remember. What's going on? Have there been more deaths?"

"It's not about that... Other thing. It's about - you asked me to keep track of a certain pattern of weather phenomenona, and for anything unusual in the Bay Area?"

"I remember."

"Well. I have both. There have been weather fluctuations and electrical storms all over the coast. It looks like they're converging."

John glanced at the calendar. "How long?"

"They started a couple days ago, but I called you as soon as the pattern emerged."

"No, how long until they converge?"

"At the current rate? They'll be over San Jose by the end of the month."

He pulled the stack of newspapers closer to him and flipped through until he found the California papers. Opened them to local news.

"Got it."

"What does it mean?" He ventured. 

"Nothing good," said John.

"But. You'll stop it? Like you stopped that thing - last spring? Did I get it to in time?"

There was a small blip of an article, already circled by his first read through, about cattle deaths and concerns over coyotes outside Lakeport.

"Thank you, Doctor," he said. "Call me if anything else shows up."

He flipped the phone closed and started gathering what he needed. The calendar, his algorithms, the stack of papers, the scattered weapons stashed across the room. 

He didn't put the journal in the bag. He didn't need it anymore, not really. He'd always intended to pass it down to Sam, in the hopes that it might make his youngest at least take an academic interest in hunting, if not a personal one.

But now it would be personal.

He had taught both his boys chess. Dean understood it, but didn't like it, preferring the fast pace and ever-changing tides of checkers and Othello, the stakes and drama of poker, the mechanics of pool. 

Sam, though. Sam had liked chess. He'd beaten Dean enough that Dean refused to play with him anymore, had joined the chess club at about a dozen different schools despite John's instructions for him to go straight back to the motel each night.

Maybe he'd be able to appreciate John's strategy now.

For the first time in twenty two years, there was about to be a new move. The demon was going to take a new piece off the field, and Sam would never be the same after that kind of loss. Even if the girl was just a pawn in the end.

He called Dean on his way across the bridge, ignoring the flicker of Constance Welch in the backseat. She wouldn't be able to touch him with the salt under the floor mats.

"Dean. It's me. Something big is starting to happen. I need to try and figure out what's going on. It may involve your brother. Be very careful, Dean. We're all in danger."

He hung up.

When Dean called back an hour later, he didn't answer. Some pieces worked best in pairs.

Without John around for Dean to lean on, and without the girl distracting Sam, it was only natural they'd fall into place, exactly where he needed them.

**Author's Note:**

> "There's signs [...] in the days before these fires signs crop up in an area. [...] before your mother died. And in Palo Alto, before Jessica." - S01E21 "Salvation"
> 
> -
> 
> @wayward-idiots


End file.
